Nace Bilby
ACME
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Co-written with @Carmen Sandiego.
Preface
Evey Hammond was a young woman whose life, while no more tumultuous than some others, would touch those around her in dramatic ways. Her defection from ACME, an organisation that promised her care and safety, routed her into the midst of V.I.L.E., an international crime syndicate that, for as long as it could, provided the comfort she needed.
She had a congenial relationship with her coworkers, and often, an air of respect for her employer. This admiration grew into a sort of cultivated friendship when, somewhere in mid 2009, Evey was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The cancer affected her bone marrow. While undergoing treatment, she continued to design V.I.L.E's current information network.
In early 2010, Carmen Sandiego received an unusual service from a 'former acquaintance'. This 'acquaintance' had hired a young Italian boy, Achille Mondadori, to cause a distraction at a public function that resulted in the narrow escape of several V.I.L.E. members. It was Evey Hammond who helped discover the identity of this unwanted aid, and that revelation led directly to the theft of ACME Tower I.
Late 2011, only weeks before Tower I would disappear into thin air, Evey's conditions worsened. At her request, she was removed from V.I.L.E's care and brought to The London Clinic Cancer Centre in order to be, as she had placed it herself, "More comfortable at home."
"I've always loved London," Evey Hammond said in her padded British intonations to Carmen Sandiego during the leader's short visit that winter.
"I like to tolerate London," the woman playfully returned a smile.
At one time, Evey thought she and the person before her shared a common story; aside from their current welfare, they were both wronged, and they had both left something good behind to find their own versions of stability. Through time, she had discovered, that they were two very different types of people.
"You're astonishing," Evey laughed lightly, "I thought... I wished that I could do what you did, leave ACME and never look back, but I think I'm suffering the regrets every day... I should be happier. But, oh, it's not like that at all, it shouldn't be so hard to let go of something, shouldn't it?" A few moments more, and tears formed beneath her dark eyelashes.
"I'm not a role-model, Evey," the thief replied soothingly, "and you're in no position to redeem regrets, let's talk about something else?"
"No, I've thought about this," between tears, she confessed, "but I don't know who else to turn to."
Compassionate, despite her attempts to stay professionally sound, Carmen sat in a supportive position ready to receive the story.
"My bag, it's next to your chair? There's a phone, my old phone, it has a folder with his name, his contact... I wish I was brave enough to do this myself, but every time I look through his pictures... I can't."
Retrieving the woman's phone, Carmen saw its most accessed folder, "Nace Bilby?" she asked.
"I need to see him," Evey nodded with difficulty, "Will you send someone to tell him, about me?"
The boy was clearly an ACME agent, and something disquieting stirred in the listener, invoking an odd parallel to some rather familiar story.
"Oh, but you must have dealt with all your regrets," she showed a lack of pride the way a woman of her unusual inwardness often would, "With your wit, I'm sure you've never had to encounter the guilt I bear."
Momentarily, Carmen wished she had a glass of water in hand, "Not intimately," she replied to decathect from her own reflection.
"We belonged to each other once, but I had been nothing but selfish."
The more pseudocynical side of the ringleader wondered what might happen to this poor girl if her former lover refused her pleas. It was slightly beyond the duties of an active leader to deliver messages, but Carmen carried enough connection with this story to wish it a good ending (whether or not she was fully aware).
"He's near Regent's Park?" V.I.L.E's leader reviewed Bilby's place of work and noted the address just as she looked from the window of the Cancer Centre down to the aforementioned public area, "That's convenient."
Evey could say nothing, her sobbing, both from embarrassment and desperation, was now involuntary.
"Rest, Evey." Carmen spoke with enough certainty to ease her friend, "You'll get you what you need." It was neither a promise nor a decline, but pleasantly phrased, exactly as words should sound to the terminally ill.
A day and a few hours after that fateful conversation, the thief would find her mark walking his Alsatian around Boating Lake in Regent's Park
* * *
Regent's Park, London in the late winter had a slight blanket of snow on the ground. Nace, having acclimated to England's relative coldness compared to South Africa, didn't shiver under the heavy coat he wore as he walked his German Shepherd, Goliath, on a recently cleared path.
It had been almost three years since Evey's defection from ACME. Three years and only a letter she'd left the night she defected.
The American knew this man and his dog from photos shown to her a day before. In a well tailored, desaturated chartreuse coat, she took her time sauntering down the path opposite of his direction. While this errand was for a good cause, she could never be too careful of how ACME perceived her identities.
She let Nace Bilby and his pet stroll past her as she studied the mannerism of both dog and owner. The canine was courteous, a well bred German Shepherd with near show quality patterns, albeit a little underweight. Its walker, a thin but athletic man, carried himself with a dignified but sombre air befitting the stature Evey had held of him.
Promptly satisfied, she turned around and called to the agent.
"Mr. Bilby," she smiled at eye contact. The woman then approached his pet. Years in orphanages have helped her understand the body language of both man and beast, so she measured her rank with the animal, in case its owner was nervous. The dog pleasantly accepted her presence, and she continued, "I'm sure you don't know me, but we have a mutual friend."
Here, the Alsatian moved to sniff her gloved hand, and she let it be distracting, "Evey Hammond?"
Nace stopped in his tracks. The South African took note that Goliath sniffed the woman's hand, panting softly.
"Aye, what of her?" Nace said, keeping his guard up especially because the stranger had mentioned Evey. Doesn't help Evey's been on my mind a fair bit since she'd gone.
"Mm," she barely nodded in response, "I may have spoken to her recently."
Keeping in mind a previous run in with Internal Affairs he said, "You're awfully cordial, and in all likelihood you're not from Internal Affairs."
He figured this woman was from V.I.L.E. as he knew all about Evey's defection. Ironic, what with my ideals on loyalty I wind up being in love with someone who betrays ACME. Nace said. Yet I have the damndest time condemning her as a betrayer.
He decided he'd test this woman's knowledge, "Did Evey attend her mum and dad's anniversary this past year?"
"Certainly you must be thinking of a different Evey Hammond," she replied, quirking an eyebrow to the dog's owner, "I believe she was tragically orphaned at the age of twelve."
"No, I am speaking of the same Evey Hammond, the tragic orphan as you put it." Nace replied, "And that is accurate, she was orphaned at 12. Only those who knew her really knew that rather unpleasant fact."
"That aside," the woman carried on, "I'm afraid I've grave news." Almost subconsciously, she looked from the lake to the building at the edge of the park, the Cancer Centre stood under the shadow of London clouds. Hinting to a park bench, she moved, "You may want to sit down for this."
Nace did so, taking a seat beside the woman. He had some hint of what was to come by her glance towards the Cancer Centre. Merciful Mother of God, please don't allow it to be too late. Nace thought. Being in V.I.L.E. Evey's life was probably a good bit more dangerous now.
"Roughly two years ago, Evey was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma," she informed sympathetically, "Her condition gradually declined, and she wanted to come home, to London." Moving slightly so she faced her listener, her expression fell to repose.
The news struck Nace like a sledgehammer to the chest. Cancer. A single word. A death sentence. To imagine Evey gradually weakening, dealing with chemo or radiotherapy, living on borrowed time because of different treatments. And all of that in terrible pain. The woman's next words nearly missed him.
"And to someone else: you," she took his arm and placed into his palm a white business card from the The London Clinic Cancer Centre. Evey's room number was written in feminine script in the empty space at its back, "This is a chance to redeem some semblance of peace, I'm sure you agree."
"I agree." Nace said, simply. In truth he would give all he had, his newfound success in ACME, his growing career with 21 SAS, to see her one last time. To be with his fiancee again, even for a short while.
He looked at the card, the room number written on the back. Seeing Evey's handwriting on it. He had another piece of paper with that same script, a letter she had written, in a plastic evidence bag inside his jacket.
The Alsatian, sharing its owner's mood, evoked an understanding smile from the woman, so she asked, "What is his name?"
"Goliath, like the Biblical giant. He was the largest of his littermates, hence his name." Nace said, "He's a good judge of character and knows a good soul when he sees one. Or as Evey used to joke he knows the smell of a treat as well."
"A fitting name, then," being the messenger of such news wasn't part of her daily routine, which of course, prompted the thief to think of her own mortality. She was one year apart from Evey, so much could have happened that did not; and briefly, bathed in the cascading light beneath the trees of Regent's Park, she saw clearly why she need not worry. The dead would never suffer as much as their survivors.
Goliath put his head on Nace's lap and he reached over to scratch his beloved pet behind the ears.
After a moment of silence, she laughed a singular, hushed note.
"I've been rude," the woman stood up,"I know both your names, but I haven't introduced myself," she offered the gentleman a handshake, "I'm Carmen, Evey's current employer."
Nace took the handshake and replied, "Charmed."
Ending the resolute clasp with both hands, she bid him farewell, "Let's hope our next meeting is more cheerful, Nace Bilby." Inside, she doubted that they would ever speak again. Within a few steps through a determined path, she let the winter leaves cover her wake and left the man to his thoughts.
It took a few moments of mulling, of thinking, and then Nace made the decision. He was going to go see Evey. He took the dog by his lead and said, "Well boy, I've got to see someone at the moment."
The two of them walked away from Carmen, towards the Cancer Centre. All this time Nace wondered what to say to Evey, having not heard from her for nearly three years...
Some timeline notes:
Preface
Evey Hammond was a young woman whose life, while no more tumultuous than some others, would touch those around her in dramatic ways. Her defection from ACME, an organisation that promised her care and safety, routed her into the midst of V.I.L.E., an international crime syndicate that, for as long as it could, provided the comfort she needed.
She had a congenial relationship with her coworkers, and often, an air of respect for her employer. This admiration grew into a sort of cultivated friendship when, somewhere in mid 2009, Evey was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The cancer affected her bone marrow. While undergoing treatment, she continued to design V.I.L.E's current information network.
In early 2010, Carmen Sandiego received an unusual service from a 'former acquaintance'. This 'acquaintance' had hired a young Italian boy, Achille Mondadori, to cause a distraction at a public function that resulted in the narrow escape of several V.I.L.E. members. It was Evey Hammond who helped discover the identity of this unwanted aid, and that revelation led directly to the theft of ACME Tower I.
Late 2011, only weeks before Tower I would disappear into thin air, Evey's conditions worsened. At her request, she was removed from V.I.L.E's care and brought to The London Clinic Cancer Centre in order to be, as she had placed it herself, "More comfortable at home."
"I've always loved London," Evey Hammond said in her padded British intonations to Carmen Sandiego during the leader's short visit that winter.
"I like to tolerate London," the woman playfully returned a smile.
At one time, Evey thought she and the person before her shared a common story; aside from their current welfare, they were both wronged, and they had both left something good behind to find their own versions of stability. Through time, she had discovered, that they were two very different types of people.
"You're astonishing," Evey laughed lightly, "I thought... I wished that I could do what you did, leave ACME and never look back, but I think I'm suffering the regrets every day... I should be happier. But, oh, it's not like that at all, it shouldn't be so hard to let go of something, shouldn't it?" A few moments more, and tears formed beneath her dark eyelashes.
"I'm not a role-model, Evey," the thief replied soothingly, "and you're in no position to redeem regrets, let's talk about something else?"
"No, I've thought about this," between tears, she confessed, "but I don't know who else to turn to."
Compassionate, despite her attempts to stay professionally sound, Carmen sat in a supportive position ready to receive the story.
"My bag, it's next to your chair? There's a phone, my old phone, it has a folder with his name, his contact... I wish I was brave enough to do this myself, but every time I look through his pictures... I can't."
Retrieving the woman's phone, Carmen saw its most accessed folder, "Nace Bilby?" she asked.
"I need to see him," Evey nodded with difficulty, "Will you send someone to tell him, about me?"
The boy was clearly an ACME agent, and something disquieting stirred in the listener, invoking an odd parallel to some rather familiar story.
"Oh, but you must have dealt with all your regrets," she showed a lack of pride the way a woman of her unusual inwardness often would, "With your wit, I'm sure you've never had to encounter the guilt I bear."
Momentarily, Carmen wished she had a glass of water in hand, "Not intimately," she replied to decathect from her own reflection.
"We belonged to each other once, but I had been nothing but selfish."
The more pseudocynical side of the ringleader wondered what might happen to this poor girl if her former lover refused her pleas. It was slightly beyond the duties of an active leader to deliver messages, but Carmen carried enough connection with this story to wish it a good ending (whether or not she was fully aware).
"He's near Regent's Park?" V.I.L.E's leader reviewed Bilby's place of work and noted the address just as she looked from the window of the Cancer Centre down to the aforementioned public area, "That's convenient."
Evey could say nothing, her sobbing, both from embarrassment and desperation, was now involuntary.
"Rest, Evey." Carmen spoke with enough certainty to ease her friend, "You'll get you what you need." It was neither a promise nor a decline, but pleasantly phrased, exactly as words should sound to the terminally ill.
A day and a few hours after that fateful conversation, the thief would find her mark walking his Alsatian around Boating Lake in Regent's Park
* * *
Regent's Park, London in the late winter had a slight blanket of snow on the ground. Nace, having acclimated to England's relative coldness compared to South Africa, didn't shiver under the heavy coat he wore as he walked his German Shepherd, Goliath, on a recently cleared path.
It had been almost three years since Evey's defection from ACME. Three years and only a letter she'd left the night she defected.
The American knew this man and his dog from photos shown to her a day before. In a well tailored, desaturated chartreuse coat, she took her time sauntering down the path opposite of his direction. While this errand was for a good cause, she could never be too careful of how ACME perceived her identities.
She let Nace Bilby and his pet stroll past her as she studied the mannerism of both dog and owner. The canine was courteous, a well bred German Shepherd with near show quality patterns, albeit a little underweight. Its walker, a thin but athletic man, carried himself with a dignified but sombre air befitting the stature Evey had held of him.
Promptly satisfied, she turned around and called to the agent.
"Mr. Bilby," she smiled at eye contact. The woman then approached his pet. Years in orphanages have helped her understand the body language of both man and beast, so she measured her rank with the animal, in case its owner was nervous. The dog pleasantly accepted her presence, and she continued, "I'm sure you don't know me, but we have a mutual friend."
Here, the Alsatian moved to sniff her gloved hand, and she let it be distracting, "Evey Hammond?"
Nace stopped in his tracks. The South African took note that Goliath sniffed the woman's hand, panting softly.
"Aye, what of her?" Nace said, keeping his guard up especially because the stranger had mentioned Evey. Doesn't help Evey's been on my mind a fair bit since she'd gone.
"Mm," she barely nodded in response, "I may have spoken to her recently."
Keeping in mind a previous run in with Internal Affairs he said, "You're awfully cordial, and in all likelihood you're not from Internal Affairs."
He figured this woman was from V.I.L.E. as he knew all about Evey's defection. Ironic, what with my ideals on loyalty I wind up being in love with someone who betrays ACME. Nace said. Yet I have the damndest time condemning her as a betrayer.
He decided he'd test this woman's knowledge, "Did Evey attend her mum and dad's anniversary this past year?"
"Certainly you must be thinking of a different Evey Hammond," she replied, quirking an eyebrow to the dog's owner, "I believe she was tragically orphaned at the age of twelve."
"No, I am speaking of the same Evey Hammond, the tragic orphan as you put it." Nace replied, "And that is accurate, she was orphaned at 12. Only those who knew her really knew that rather unpleasant fact."
"That aside," the woman carried on, "I'm afraid I've grave news." Almost subconsciously, she looked from the lake to the building at the edge of the park, the Cancer Centre stood under the shadow of London clouds. Hinting to a park bench, she moved, "You may want to sit down for this."
Nace did so, taking a seat beside the woman. He had some hint of what was to come by her glance towards the Cancer Centre. Merciful Mother of God, please don't allow it to be too late. Nace thought. Being in V.I.L.E. Evey's life was probably a good bit more dangerous now.
"Roughly two years ago, Evey was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma," she informed sympathetically, "Her condition gradually declined, and she wanted to come home, to London." Moving slightly so she faced her listener, her expression fell to repose.
The news struck Nace like a sledgehammer to the chest. Cancer. A single word. A death sentence. To imagine Evey gradually weakening, dealing with chemo or radiotherapy, living on borrowed time because of different treatments. And all of that in terrible pain. The woman's next words nearly missed him.
"And to someone else: you," she took his arm and placed into his palm a white business card from the The London Clinic Cancer Centre. Evey's room number was written in feminine script in the empty space at its back, "This is a chance to redeem some semblance of peace, I'm sure you agree."
"I agree." Nace said, simply. In truth he would give all he had, his newfound success in ACME, his growing career with 21 SAS, to see her one last time. To be with his fiancee again, even for a short while.
He looked at the card, the room number written on the back. Seeing Evey's handwriting on it. He had another piece of paper with that same script, a letter she had written, in a plastic evidence bag inside his jacket.
The Alsatian, sharing its owner's mood, evoked an understanding smile from the woman, so she asked, "What is his name?"
"Goliath, like the Biblical giant. He was the largest of his littermates, hence his name." Nace said, "He's a good judge of character and knows a good soul when he sees one. Or as Evey used to joke he knows the smell of a treat as well."
"A fitting name, then," being the messenger of such news wasn't part of her daily routine, which of course, prompted the thief to think of her own mortality. She was one year apart from Evey, so much could have happened that did not; and briefly, bathed in the cascading light beneath the trees of Regent's Park, she saw clearly why she need not worry. The dead would never suffer as much as their survivors.
Goliath put his head on Nace's lap and he reached over to scratch his beloved pet behind the ears.
After a moment of silence, she laughed a singular, hushed note.
"I've been rude," the woman stood up,"I know both your names, but I haven't introduced myself," she offered the gentleman a handshake, "I'm Carmen, Evey's current employer."
Nace took the handshake and replied, "Charmed."
Ending the resolute clasp with both hands, she bid him farewell, "Let's hope our next meeting is more cheerful, Nace Bilby." Inside, she doubted that they would ever speak again. Within a few steps through a determined path, she let the winter leaves cover her wake and left the man to his thoughts.
It took a few moments of mulling, of thinking, and then Nace made the decision. He was going to go see Evey. He took the dog by his lead and said, "Well boy, I've got to see someone at the moment."
The two of them walked away from Carmen, towards the Cancer Centre. All this time Nace wondered what to say to Evey, having not heard from her for nearly three years...
Some timeline notes:
- 2005 - 2008: Evey and Nace were involved
- Late 2008: Nace proposed, Evey defected
- Mid 2009: Evey was diagnosed with Adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma (affecting the bone marrow)
- 2010: In addition to her work in security IT, Evey helped Carmen discover a trail into "The Man in Tweed" at the centre of Auld Lang Syne
- Winter 2011: Evey is terminally ill, and asked Carmen for a way to inform Nace, Carmen volunteered for secrecy from other VILE members that may see this contact a betrayal; and out of convenience, as she was in personally in Europe for a heist Evey helped to create.
